Snakes used to wander the Earth on legs about 150 million years ago, before they shifted from strut to slither. Now, two scientists have pinpointed the genetic process that caused snakes to lose their ...

The ancestors of today’s slithery snakes once sported full-fledged arms and legs, but genetic mutations caused the reptiles to lose all four of their limbs about 150 million years ago, according to ...

Snakes have adapted to climb trees, leap across hot sand, and even swim through water — all without arms or legs. What’s their secret? Mike Bock This corn snake, shown here at the Smithsonian's ...

Snakes with legs may sound like nightmare fuel to some, but in fact they did originally have legs that disappeared through evolution. Some snakes do have vestigial legs, which are essentially useless, ...

A Chinese riddle invites on to guess the identity of runners without a leg, swimmers without a flipper, gliders without a wing. The answer, of course, is snakes. Today more than 3,000 species share a ...